Early research on urban form in Sweden was undertaken before the First World War. After the Second World War research was influenced by the major criticisms levelled at comprehensive urban renewal and suburban mass housing. These criticisms were particularly on the ground that values embodied in the traditional built environment were being ignored. Increased interest in the study of historical urban fabrics was associated with the development of methodologies reliant on the concepts of typology and morphology. These development were dependent on the activities of individual researchers until the very recent development of wider co-ordinating research organizations.